


The Voice in My Head

by Elexica



Series: Elexica does AU-gust 2020 [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, In a way, Just a little angst, Kaiba Seto Has Issues, Kaiba Seto Needs a Hug, M/M, POV Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates, as a treat, let jounouchi sleep 2020, ygocollablove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:40:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25699699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elexica/pseuds/Elexica
Summary: The month leading up to when you meet your soulmate is the only period in your life where you will hear another voice in your head, their thoughts streaming through your mind.  For Jounouchi, it's hell.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Series: Elexica does AU-gust 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860052
Comments: 26
Kudos: 130
Collections: AUgust 2020





	The Voice in My Head

**Author's Note:**

> \- one more change, in this one, Kaiba never went to Domino High -

The month leading up to when you meet your soulmate is a special time. It is the only period in your life where you will hear another voice in your head, their thoughts streaming through your mind as easily as your own.

Jounouchi had seen it happen to his friends. In the last month before Yugi was able to open the millennium puzzle, he seemed constantly distracted, his gaze never quite sticking to any one person, his mind obviously preoccupying him. Perhaps that’s why picking on him had seemed so tempting.

Jounouchi shook off the harsher memories with a toss of his golden hair. If only he could toss out this voice as easily.

While Yugi had been somewhat listless and distracted—presumably from the ministrations of the Pharaoh in the soul room—Jounouchi was in _hell_.

For one thing, the voice did not seem to sleep. Jounouchi was lucky if it was silent for a few hours at practically random intervals.

For another thing, he couldn’t understand about half of what was going on in there. Sometimes the voice would speak in English or German or Korean. Jounouchi occasionally wondered if there were a few different people in there—maybe he was one of the few who had soul-connections to more than one person?

But the voice was the same, no matter which language it rambled in. That is, when it was rambling. 

The other dreadful problem with the voice was, for lack of a better word, the constant screaming.

The voice was very, very angry. Many things seemed to set off the voice. One Saturday morning, Jounouchi woke up to the voice in his head screaming about “Ethiopian espresso.”

Another time, it was about someone’s middle school homework. Other times programming problems—bug reports, engineering issues, that sort of thing.

There seemed to be a standing appointment at 8 a.m. on Thursday mornings for screaming about “Pegasus.”

Perhaps most concerning were the late nights, after the thoughts about stock prices and shareholders went to sleep, and the dregs of the other person’s brain stained Jounouchi’s mind.

In those terrifyingly late, quiet hours, the voice said terrible things about how weak and dumb he was. How insufficient this or that progress was. How pathetic his output was. How some old man had been right. 

Jounouchi was a sympathetic kid. He had a lot of empathy for anyone suffering this significantly and constantly. But he had taken enough. 

It was four a.m. 

He’d been trying very hard not to react too much to the thoughts, knowing that it was supposed to be a two-way street. His own thoughts were probably finding their way to the other man, even though the voice didn’t seem to pay him any notice.

Jounouchi took a deep breath, drawing strength from the intensity with which he held the comforter on his bed. “GO. TO. SLEEP.” He pushed the thoughts as loud in his own head as he could, eyes wincing shut with the force of the thought.

And he was met with the first silence he’d had in twenty hours. Did he just get blessed with a cooperative soulmate? 

A few more tense seconds passed without any more words invading his mind. Did the voice just learn to tone it down? To keep a thought deeper in?

“I have a soulmate?” The voice asked, gravelly deep and sounding somewhat hurt.

“YES.” Jounouchi’s eyes went wide, staring back at the ceiling. “A VERY TIRED ONE.”

“What did you hear?” The voice asked again. “Much of what you may have heard was proprietary information. I will have you sign a non-disclosure agreement as to the –”

“GO. TO. SLEEP.” Jounouchi flopped over and shoved his face into his musty pillow. “I’ll sign whatever you want, do whatever you want, if you will just _go to fucking sleep_.”

“I… I just had coffee. I’m going to get back to work.” Maybe a minute passed. “I’m… sorry.” The voice couldn’t resist the thought, although it seemed as if he had tried from the tension.

“You’re sorry?” Jounouchi thought, slightly ticked off.

“How long have you heard me?” The voice sounded more resigned than Jounouchi had expected. Frankly, Jounouchi had expected screaming by now. 

“Almost three weeks now.” Jounouchi said, and it felt almost like a confession. He hadn’t been meaning to hide his thoughts, damn it, it was just impossible to get anything through the nonstop speed and raw intensity of the other’s thoughts.

“Oh. Well. What do you have scheduled for next week?” The voice was regaining a sense of professionalism and dignity as the seconds ticked on.

“Domino Regional Duel Monsters Tournament.”

“I suppose I’ll see you then.” And then, as if nothing had happened, the voice began streaming through something to do with hologram projectors. 

Jounouchi screamed internally, hoping it would knock the other thinker off his game again, but ultimately he drifted to sleep with thoughts of holography tumbling through his mind.


End file.
